By Dele Ogbodo
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS) on Monday said that the Ministry is not way distributing rice as palliative to cushion the hunger across the country.
In a statement signed by the Director of Information in the Ministry, Dr. Joel Oruche, said the attention of the Ministry was drawn to stories making the rounds that the Ministry is delaying the distribution of rice palliative.
He said: “The Ministry wish to state that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is not distributing any palliative.”
Making further clarification, he said the issue under reference concerns constituency projects budgeted for under the 2023 supplementary appropriation and domiciled in the ministry.
Oruche, explained that it is common knowledge that funds for National Assembly constituency projects are domiciled in the relevant Ministry for purposes of implementation.
He added that the implementation process for the 2023 supplementary appropriation is on-going.
The Director, said: “Constituency projects in this instance cover a range of needs of the constituents including staple grains and some agricultural infrastructure as determined by respective members of the National Assembly.”